Foxx Hunting
by PhantomChajo
Summary: Bucky and Natasha make a game of going after the guy they want. Takes place directly after The Nine Tailed Foxx. (See Profile for other related fics)
1. Chapter 1

Foxx Hunting

by Phantomchajo

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.))

Chap 1

Late evening, Dec 25th….

" _If you plan to pursue him then you had better plan on including his kids,_ " Natasha commented quietly to Bucky in Russian as she watched him watch Johnny. " _And when were you going to ask me if I'd allow you to?_ "

Bucky cast a glance at Nat before he returned to watching Johnny. " _I don't know what you are talking about. I'm not planning on doing anything,_ " the 'yet' was left unspoken as he replied back in Russian. " _When I'm ready, I'll ask._ " Whenever he and Natasha spoke about anything on a personal level, they always used Russian. Not because they didn't want anyone else to understand them, but because of their shared past. " _He didn't seem to mind how close we were in the quinjet._ "

Natasha rolled her eyes. " _Of course he didn't mind getting close. He was ice cold and had already passed out after his shoulder was put back in place. You and Steve do tend to run hotter than most people,_ " she pointed out. It hadn't been that long since Johnny had been pulled out from rubble, soaked to the skin with an obviously dislocated shoulder. " _What if I decide to make a move first? Hmmm?_ " she asked, cutting a glance at Bucky out of the side of her eye, a small smirk on her lips.

Bucky, turned his full attention on Natasha. " _You would, wouldn't you,_ " he said, crossing his arms over his chest before returning his attention once more to Johnny. " _Just to say you bested me at something._ "

" _I've bested you many times,_ " Nat shot back with a laugh. " _You just won't admit it._ "

Both turned back to watching their prey once more, each making their own plans on how best to win their private game while derailing the other's plans.

At the moment, Johnny was attempting to find a comfortable enough position on the couch so he could try and get some rest. Even though his arm was both supported in a sling and strapped to his chest, the pain from his fractured scapula and collarbone spiked enough when he moved too much or too suddenly to put him on the edge of graying out without actually sending him over. To be fair it had only been a day and a half since he'd been rescued. There was very little medical could do for him past what they had already done. He wasn't sure if he was lucky or not, since it was 'just' a fracture, not a true break. The pain meds he'd been given were completely useless to him due to his mutations. He was just thankful he has yet to have any injury severe enough to require surgery. When he had finally found a position that was marginal in its comfort but gave enough shoulder support that the pain was starting to taper off, he sensed two people approaching. Neither matched with Doc, Donny or the kids, nor did they match with Tony or Pepper, so it had to be some of the Avengers.

"Hey stranger, what are you still doing down here?" Natasha asked casually as she moved across the room towards the wet bar. "Shouldn't you be with the kids?" she added as she motioned for Bucky to go sit as she retrieved a bottle of vodka and a pair of shot glasses.

"Umm hhmm… should be," Johnny replied tiredly. "Can't sleep, shoulder hurting too much."

Natasha arched an eyebrow. "Weren't you given anything for it?" she asked as she made her way to the couch. "How bad is it exactly?"

"Fractured scapula and collarbone, some deep muscle bruising as well. Some discussion of possibly needing surgery if it doesn't heal properly or something happens. Off of field duty for the foreseeable future too," Johnny replied. "As for the stuff they gave me, it had worn off long before we arrived here. The meds I was given are no better," he added, twisting around automatically to follow Natasha's movement and paying for it. His vision when white as he sucked in a breath and went absolutely still.

Nat handed both the bottle and the glasses to Bucky before she slid onto the couch, tucking herself into the small space between Johnny's back and the couch arm. She placed her hands on his sides, just below his ribs. "Easy...Breath out, slowly," she instructed. "Now breath in. Slow and steady, don't suck it in...and hold..2..3..4.. and exhale…." She slowly slid her hands up Johnny's sides as he breathed in and out, feeling how his muscles expanded and contracted with each breath. Over Johnny's shoulder, she shot Bucky a tiny smirk. She kept her touch feather light on the left side and a solid contact on the right as she tested the boundaries of his injury. She knew all it would take is a poke here and a jab there to numb his entire shoulder down to his fingertips, but where was the fun in that? This way not only did she give Johnny what he craved the most, physical contact, but it made beating Bucky all that more sweet and rewarding. "How'd you make it through earlier today if the meds don't work?" she asked as she worked magic on him.

"Who said I did?" Johnny asked back in a low groan as the tension in his upper back just melted away. "Maxed the daily before breakfast," he muttered slowly opening his eyes. "Took a second batch before lunch. 's why I just picked at it…" He closed his eyes again as he started to sag against the couch back. He didn't realize just how stiff his muscles were until Nat loosened them up. He turned his head to bury his face in the crook of his arm. "Gods that feels so good," he moaned.

"You were getting nauseous, weren't you?," Bucky commented from the other end of the couch as he knocked back a shot of vodka. "One of the signs of possible overdose." He poured a second shot and offered it to Nat. " _And you are such a tease, making him moan like that,_ " he added in Russian.

Natasha only smiled as she took the glass and downed the liquid as if it was water. She held the glass back out, nodding for Buck to refill it. " _If I wanted to be a tease, I'd have a trio of movies sent to your personal tablet._ " She brought the refilled glass close then paused. "I'd offer you some, but mixing pain meds with alcohol is not good," she said in English.

"I'd accept, but only if you'd want to see a return of lunch." Turning his head, Johnny cracked open one eye to glance towards the bottle in….. he opened his other eye and blinked. Shifting his arm, he closed his eyes again and pinched the bridge of his nose as he frowned. "This is awkward," he finally said.

Bucky lifted an eyebrow, shot glass raised to his lips. "What is?" he asked before downing the liquid. Vodka was more of Natasha's prefered drink than his, but it would do just as well as anything else really. Like Steve but to a slightly lesser degree, alcohol had little effect on him.

"I know the others, but I don't remember you," Johnny admitted. "If we were introduced," he shook his head, eyes closing as Natasha's fingers combed through his hair, nails lightly scratching his scalp. If he was a cat, he'd be purring right now. Hell, he still might start to purr if she kept it up. "Please tell me someone forgot to introduce us, that I didn't forget who you are…"

Before Nat could reply, FRIDAY interrupted. "I apologize, but Miss Riley appears to have had a nightmare and is calling for you."

Johnny was honestly expecting this. He let out a sigh, as he looked up at the ceiling. Sleep will have to wait. "Have Mr. Snuffleupagus bring her down please? And que up her lullaby list please."

"Yes sir," FRIDAY responded.

He glanced at the bottle still in Bucky's hand. "Would you mind putting that away for now?" he asked as he raked his hand through his hair.

"Do you need us to go?" Nat asked as she handed Bucky her glass before setting to work on muscles that were starting to tense again.

Johnny shook his head again, "No, you should be fine. She'll be too worked up to notice anyone else."

A soft ding as the elevator arrived was accompanied by soft music and the lyrical words of Enya. At first no one stepped out of the elevator, but after a moment or two, Riley was shuffled out by a very large black lab. The dog paced around the child before it took the end of the blanket she was clinging to and tugged her in the direction of the couch and her papa. Instead of going around the couch like most would, Riley managed to scramble over the back, tumbling into her papa's lap with a sudden outpouring of hysterical tears and jumbled words.

While Nat and Bucky seemed to understand one word in ten from the child, Johnny understood almost all of it. It was an often repeated nightmare he battled. He shoved the flare of pain to the back of his concerns as Riley buried her face against the side of his neck, wrapping her arms tightly around him. With his one arm curled protectively around her back, he started rocking her as he sang along softly with the music. After about a half hour or so, Riley finally fell asleep again.

Through it all Bucky sat silently, observing his chosen prey.

Nat decided that was their cue to slip away. Avoiding small arms. she ran her hand down the back of Johnny's neck and shoulders. Leaning forward, she whispered softly in his ear. "As long as I'm here, I'll help you, so you can take care of them."


	2. Chapter 2

Foxx Hunting

by Phantomchajo

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.

Italics usually means another language that I'm too lazy to have translated into that language))

Chap 2.

December 31st, New Years Eve at Stark Tower

Furniture had been re-arranged to accommodate the wood dance floor Tony had brought in for the evening's party. A small band was playing swing that had been popular in the 30's and 40's, a few SI staff members acted as waiters while a professional bartender stood ready to mix up anything requested. The landing deck was off limits but the small balcony above it was accessible, not that there were many people willing to brave the winter winds 81 stories above the ground though. The party itself started at 8 in the evening and was planned to last until the last person called it (or until Pepper said it was time for everyone to go home).

All the women were dolled up in the best fashions of the era. Those that were older leaned towards the fashionable floor length evening gowns that fitted at the waist and hugged the hips before flaring out about mid-thigh. It was an even mix between gowns that were backless and those that had the backs. The younger women tended towards the elegant day dresses with the puffy sleeves, belts, large yoke and collars. There were no rules about older and younger women and what they should wear though. Several of the older women wore the metropolitan styles that emphasized their silhouettes just as some of the younger wore evening gowns that did the same. For the party, Pepper wore a grand staircase entry dress. It was a deep hunter green satin and lace, with a sweetheart neckline and cap sleeves, that hugged her body from shoulders to hips before flaring out to brush the floor, creating a small train in the back. And speaking of backs, the dress back was nothing but lace, creating a tantalizing effect that drew the eye of viewer. Not wanting to wear something that would attract too much attention to herself or take attention away from Pepper, Natasha went with a cream and black dress, that had a wide yoked collar and cap sleeves. Unlike Pepper's floor length dress, Natasha's flared out around mid thigh but ended at mid calf. She also wore a simple yet elegant necklace that drew the eyes upwards to her face instead of downwards to her chest.

All the men wore suits of course. Either true vintage or modern replicas, that looked to be taken directly from the late 30's to somewhere in the mid 40's. Tony had somehow found one of his father's old tuxes from the 1943 World Expo, had it cleaned and tailored to fit him. All he would have had to do was shave the goatee and dye his hair its original black to be the spitting image of his father, Howard. Steve was wearing his original officer's uniform, on loan from the Smithsonian, complete with all his medals, ribbons and awards up to the day he crashed the plane into the ice. He looked like any officer who'd just come home on a furlough and was planning on spending the evening with his dame at the local dance hall. Having been able to go either way, military uniform or high class eveningwear, Bucky chose the middle ground. The suit he chose, though still high quality, would have fit in, in a high profile business or a gathering of friends down at the local dance hall.

Before the party even started, Steve took one look at Bucky and shook his head. This was vintage pre-war Bucky, all spiffed up and on the prowl for his next conquest. Bucky even went so far as to have his hair trimmed and was clean shaved. Trying to talk him out of it never worked then and it sure as hell won't work now, not with today's openness. All he could do was ask that Bucky at least respect the wishes of whomever he ended up with for the night and to be careful.

Bucky just gave Steve that smirking grin before sauntering off to prowl through the crowd of partiers looking for his intended target. He spent most of the first hour just observing people as he sipped his drink. He crossed paths with Natasha several times, trading quips, overheard gossip and making observations about various people. He spent most of the second hour on the dance floor, either dancing with women (and a couple of men) or showing them how to do the dances. It's only when the third hour of the party starts that he finally catches the first glimpse of the person he was looking for.

Johnny steps out of the elevator, pausing long enough to survey the area before he makes his way through the partiers towards Pepper and Tony. He was wearing a classic gangster's suit. Midnight black suit with thin white pinstripes, black leather ankle boots shined to a high gloss with white spats and a matching fedora with a silvery-blue satin trim-ribbon. His shirt was a matching silvery-blue color and the tie a solid black, which directed the eyes up to his face. Days prior a special orthopedic shoulder brace had been crafted for him, so his arm wouldn't have to be strapped, just put in a sling (which matched his black pinstripe suit perfectly). When he got closer to Pepper and Tony, he noticed that they were amongst a small group of familiar faces. He couldn't help the tiny smirk that made its way onto his face. "Mr. Stark, this is a pretty swanky party, you're throwing," he said, letting the Romani accent slip out as he did. "The Boss and the rest of the gang will be disappointed they had to miss it. Maybe next time around, you can arrange it so they can attend, yes?" He turned to Pepper, took her hand and brought it up to his lips. "You're looking like the cat's meow tonight."

"Why thank you," Pepper replied with a grin. "I must say you're lookin pretty keen your own self."

"I'll keep it in mind," Tony commented with a grin of his own, before taking a sip of his drink. He turned to the rest of the group, gesturing to Johnny. "Gentlemen, and Ladies, may I present one of our best security consultants and R&D tech testers SI has to offer?"

"He also does amazing work in the forensic accounting field and should be graduating with his Masters from Berkeley this coming June," Pepper added.

A hint of color made its way to Johnny's cheeks as he reached up and tipped his hat. "Only because you two gave me the chance to do so. Ladies, gentlemen, a pleasure to meet you," he said to the gathering. Turning back to Pepper and Tony he made a gesture towards the elevator. "Mr. Snuffleupagus is on guard at the elevator landing. If anyone is stupid enough to attempt to get past him, I refuse to take pity on them for what will happen." He picked up a fluted champagne glass from the offered tray and took a sip. "Hmm... Apple and white grape juice, not bad. Not expected either."

"What about Shep?" Tony asked.

"Terrorizing the floor's roomba population," Johnny replied with a laugh.

"Oh dear, are they going to need to be reprogrammed again?" Pepper asked with a laugh.

* * *

Not far away, Bucky joined Steve at the bar, turning around so he could watch Johnny as the fair skinned man chatted with their host. "What can you tell me about him?" he asked as he turned back around to order a drink.

"Who?" Steve asked, turning to look. "Oh.. him….really Buck? You could do a lot better. Besides, aren't you and Romanoff together?"

"What?" Bucky asked back in reply. "Yeah, we're still together. And what do you mean by 'oh him'?"

"Listen Buck. Me and him didn't exactly get along too well when he came to the tower. Too many differences, I didn't agree with his choice of employer, coerced or not and, well, our first meeting was rather.. disastrous. I also made the mistake of going after him instead of rescuing his kid first. I don't think he ever forgave me for that." Steve shook his head at the memory. "Maybe you should ask Romanoff, she knows a lot more about him than anyone else. Or did. Maybe Pepper and Stark know more now. I'd say ask Barton but he's retired and out of reach," he said then took a drink of his beer.

Bucky just huffed as he downed his drink then motioned for a refill. "Can't ask Nat. We're sort of competing," he admits. "And going to either Stark or his dame would be like going to a gal's parents and asking them how to get their girl into bed with ya." He sipped his drink as he continued to watch Johnny.

"You'd know all about that wouldn't ya, ya jerk?" Steve replied with a laugh. "What was their names again? The pair you thought were sisters that turned out to be mother and daughter?"

Bucky shot Steve a look. "Hey, the mother was damned good looking for her age and the daughter wasn't that far behind. It coulda happened to anyone, punk."

"Just keep telling yourself that Buck," Steve said with a smirk. He reached over and clapped a hand on his friend's shoulder. "All I can say is be careful and good luck competing against Romanoff." He took his bottle of beer and wandered off, leaving friend behind.

"Punk," Bucky muttered once more before he took his drink and wandered about the edges of the room. By the time he got to the dance floor, his glass was empty. After handing it off to one of the wait staff, he picked one of the ladies standing around at the edge of the dance floor and took her out for a few rounds. He continued for the next half hour, changing partners every two to three songs before he stepped off the floor to take a break. Before he could flag down a wait staff, a glass was being offered to him. He nodded in thanks before taking a drink. He pulled the glass away from his mouth, giving it a look. It was fruit juice, not alcohol like he expected. "What the hell?" he asked, earning a laugh from the person that handed him the glass.

"Bet you were expecting something else," Johnny commented with a lopsided grin.

"Yeah, I was," Bucky replied after finishing off the drink. "Seriously. The swanky fly boy's sitting pretty. He's got the dough and he can afford the good hooch so why are you drinking this hooey?"

Johnny just laughed again. "I'm waiting till closer to midnight. Would rather have most of my facilities to keep from having to call it an early night." He shrugged one shouldered. "Less likely to accidently do something to my shoulder. Or that's the theory anyways. Besides, I don't like to share my fireball with too many people." He snagged another glass from a passing staff member then took a sip before nodding to the dance floor. "You're good out there."

"Thanks," Bucky replied. He sat the empty glass down on a proffered tray, then held out his hand. "James Barnes. Friends call me Bucky," he said in way of introduction.

Swapping his glass to his left hand, Johnny accepted the hand and shook. "Johnnathan LeFleaur. Most call me Johnny or Foxx," he replied.

Tilting his head to the side just slightly, he ran Johnny's last name through his head a second time. "French, Canadian or French Canadian descent?" he asked, still holding Johnny's hand. "And why Foxx?"

Johnny shook his head, "American Romani actually, from the Southern Delta area." He pulled his hand back some, quirking an eyebrow in amusement when Bucky didn't let go at first. "My alias," he replied. Considering who most of the people here at the party were with or in some cases who they were, he saw little reason not to say what his was. "Foxx is short for Foxxfyre Gypsy."

Finally letting go, Bucky tucked his hands into his pants pockets. "Gypsy huh?" He remembered hearing a few stories about the Gypsies from the time of his childhood. Mostly warnings about what they'd do to misbehaving children. He noticed the people around them were starting to increase, so he nodded his head towards one of the quieter areas away from the dance floor. "How'd you get mixed up with this crowd?" he asked.

Humming softly, Johnny glanced at his watch, noting the time. Still a little over an hour until midnight. "Wrong place, right time. Or maybe right place and the wrong time. Either way, got mixed in with the wrong crowd and was given another chance." He matched the casual pace Bucky set as they made their way to another area. "How about you?" he asked. He knew the basic story, what was in all the history books and such, but he wasn't interested in that.

"Followed this little fellow from Brooklyn who was too dumb to run away from a fight," Bucky replied with an easy smile. "The punk was always doing stupid shit like getting into fights he couldn't win. Someone had to look out for em. Guess that someone was me."

The pair sat and chatted about this and that, avoiding most work related stories and anything that was considered too personal for a first meeting. Johnny kept an eye on the time while Bucky kept his eyes on Johnny.

With one last look at his watch, Johnny stood up. "If you'd like to continue this, meet me out on the deck with a tumbler of ice," he said.

Bucky stood up as well, slightly concerned that he might have scared Johnny away with his staring. "Where're you going?"

"To get my coat and some fireball. Can't celebrate New Year's without a drink, now can you?" he tossed over his shoulder with a grin.

With almost twenty minutes to go till midnight, Johnny stepped out onto the party deck's balcony with his coat on, a full tumbler of Fireball whiskey and the bottle in hand. He was hoping he hadn't read things the wrong way with Bucky. Especially considering all the stories Nat told while giving him massages, of how well they worked together both professionally and personally. He wasn't disappointed when Bucky waved at him from further along the balcony, out of direct sight of most everyone inside. "I see I wasn't wrong," he commented as he joined Bucky who was leaning against the railing. He held out his tumbler, "Hold please."

Bucky straightened up, taking the offered tumbler as he did. With a raised eyebrow, he watched Johnny work the cap off the bottle and pour. He brought the now full tumbler up to his mouth, sniffing it once before taking a sip. The taste of sweet cinnamon flooded across his tongue followed by rolling warmth. "Not bad," he said after taking another sip.

"'Not bad' he says, hhmmf… just like Tony. Can't appreciate good flavors," Johnny muttered as he took a sip, letting out a sigh of pleasure.

Bucky just laughed as he leaned against the railing once more, looking out over the city when he wasn't watching Johnny that is.

"Nat ever tell you how I managed to get the golden boy scout pissed off enough he bitched out the entire team?" Johnny asked with a grin as he took another sip. The bottle was sitting on the ground near his feet, the lid only loosely closed for easy opening when he wanted a refill.

"No. She's never said anything about you at all before we had to pull your ass out of whatever trouble you'd gotten into," Bucky replied, finding the taste of the drink to be acceptable enough to have more of it.

"For which me, my ass and my family are ever grateful for by the way," Johnny said, saluting with his glass before he finished it off and went for a refill. "Clint and Nat had finally decided to test my proficiency with firearms. We discovered some of my problems so they, or rather Clint, decided to have some fun." He pointed down to the landing pad below them. "Gave me back my slingshot and had me take potshots at everyone who could fly. Iron Man, War Machine, Falcon….I think I even sent a few Nat and Clint's way… anyway, after it's all said and done, we're lined up like a bunch of delinquents and he's pacing back and forth doing his 'Stern Disapproval' act… you've seen him do that haven't you?"

"Yeah, quite a few times. But his 'I'm sad that you've disappointed me' look is even worse let me tell you," Bucky answered back taking a moment to refill his own glass. "Makes you just want to drop to your knees and beg forgiveness from him." He shook his head with a laugh.

"Didn't help we were all snarking him," Johnny said. "Umm.. sassing back," he explained at the questioning look.

"No wonder he didn't like you too much."

"Naaa…. it was what I did to him when I first came to the tower." Johnny finished off his second glass, then glanced at his watch. "And the fact that I had been working for HYDRA for close to a year prior to that," he added. 'That could be the make or break sentence of the evening right there,' he thought to himself.

Bucky tensed at the word 'HYDRA'. "Were you working for them willingly?" he asked softly.

"Nope. Only reason I was there was to get a girl out at her father's request. Ended up staying after Alexei was born in order to protect him," Johnny answered.

Bucky thought it over for several moments before nodding his head. "So what did you do to the punk?" he finally asked.

Johnny glanced around, then moved so his back was to the small section of wall, then motioned for Bucky to move closer. He set his glass in the planter next to him for the moment. "Call me paranoid, but I'd rather not do this with my back to open air. Even if it's only a story or so below us, the landing deck is hard." The wall behind him would hurt like hell if Bucky took it wrong, but better than possibly falling to his death. "Now, put your hands on my upper arms and get in close."

"Like this?"

"Ummhmmm…"

"So what did yo-" Bucky started to ask but was silenced when lips crashed into his and a hand groped him hard enough to catch and hold his attention. His grip tightened, causing Johnny to gasp slightly as his left shoulder protested. He took advantage of that gasp, shifting so he was pressed in close. With his left hand and arm now bracing him somewhat against the wall, he slid his right onto Johnny's hip, pressing into the hand at his groin. He mumbled an apology when he came up for air.

From inside, cheers went up as the countdown reached midnight on the clock. Auld Lang Syne was being sung by the party goers as New Years kisses were exchanged. Neither of the men were paying much attention to the goings on inside, too caught up in the moment outside, to notice Natasha standing at the window, looking down at them with a smirk. She lifted her glass in a salute, seeing how Bucky won this round of their game.


	3. Chapter 3

Foxx Hunting

by Phantomchajo

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.

Italics usually means another language that I'm too lazy to have translated into that language))

Chap 3

January 1st….New Year's Day.

Johnny shifted his hand, bringing it up to grasp Bucky's hair and tug as he tilted his head back and to the side. It had the unintended effect of exposing his throat. Lips left his, only to latch onto his pulse point a moment later. He was pretty sure he'd have a spectacular hickey the way Bucky was going. He tugged again on Bucky's hair, letting out a breathy chuckle as he did, "Hey.. hey… ease up…."

Bucky opened his eyes, not realizing he'd closed them in the heat of arousal. "Shit... sorry," he said backing off. He would have stepped completely away if a hand hadn't caught the waist of his trousers and drug him forward again.

"This," Johnny said as he thrust his own cloth covered arousal against Bucky's, "isn't me saying 'No'. Not by a long shot." He ground against Bucky once more, "This is the body saying hell yeah, let's go find a room and get busy." He let go, reaching up to tap the side of his head. "It's the mind that's demanding we put on the brakes before things go too far and possibly ruin something good."

Nodding in understanding, Bucky pressed up against Johnny once more. With his head somewhat cleared, he kept things to a minimum. The kisses were less demanding and more playful promises should they take it further. Considering their location, it wasn't long before he felt Johnny start to shiver from the cold. It didn't bother him as much but that didn't mean he was immune to it either. "Maybe we should head inside," he murmured between slow lingering kisses. He didn't miss Johnny's flagging passion or the small, barely there winces when he shivered.

Johnny nodded, "Yeah… alcohol can only do so much before the cold gets to you." He dropped his head back against the wall, "Trust me, it's not you."

Bucky chuckled before capturing one last lingering kiss. "Better get you in before I face the firing squad for letting you stay out here too long with that shoulder of yours." He stepped back, pulling Johnny with him. He slid his arm around the other man's waist and started moving them towards the door.

Once inside the pair made their way towards the elevator, ignoring the looks from a couple of key people. They were not the only people who had the idea of calling it a night. Leaning against the back wall, the pair rode it down with the group. Once the elevator was empty of everyone but the two of them, Johnny requested his floor. Bucky took advantage of it being just the two of them to steal a few more kisses. That was how the person on the other side of the elevator doors found them.

"Ah-hem!"

Johnny broke the kiss with a snicker. "Looks like we've been caught," he stage whispered. "Evening.. or rather morning Doc," he added louder.

"Mr. J," Doc answered back, giving Bucky a look over as she did.

"James Barnes, but friends call me Bucky."

Doc raised an eyebrow, "Nice to meet you Mr. B."

"Don't bother, I haven't gotten her to break the habit in over three years, you won't be able to do it in a night," Johnny commented as he stepped away from Bucky, giving him a quick peck in parting. "Later," he said as he stepped out of the elevator.

Once the doors were closed, Doc turned to Johnny, her stern expression morphing into a big grin. "Oh my god…. he's sooo…..sooo… sexy looking!" she practically squealed. "How the hell did you find someone that damned sexy at Mr. T's party? It's not fair!"

"Let me get comfortable and I'll tell you over a carton of ice cream," Johnny said with a laugh.

"Mint Moose Tracks it is," Doc said. "See you in the kitchen in a few."

* * *

When Bucky stepped off at the party floor again, he bade Pepper a good night as she stepped into the elevator. He moved about the room, not saying much to those that were left. He had a few more rounds on the dance floor, but didn't put much effort into it, but for him it was still effortless. Finally he ended up back at the bar, sipping on a whiskey as he watched the rest of the room. The two that knew him the best, recognized that his mind was elsewhere. For everyone else, he looked bored.

After Pepper left for the night, Tony made his rounds like a good host. Giving a few last minute instructions to the staff, bidding goodnight to his guests and making sure there was some form of transportation available to them. He ended up at the bar, sitting one stool over from Bucky, slowly sipping his last drink of the night. There were many things he wanted to say but this was the first time in a very long time he was in a position to need to say them.

Natasha slipped onto the stool between Bucky and Tony, her expression neutral yet amused at the same time. She nodded as the bartender placed a drink in front of her then moved on. Catching the eye flicker in her direction from Bucky, she knew they were going to end up talking once they got back to their room. More than just talk, if she read correctly. Which was perfectly fine by her.

Bucky rolled his eyes when Steve and Sharon tool the seats on his other side. It looked like he was facing the proverbial firing squad (minus Pepper). He was pretty sure he knew how it would go down from both Steve's side as well as Tony's. Sharon, would back Steve but who would Nat back? They would need to talk once they returned to their room.

Time seemed to both slow down and speed up as the quintet just sat there sipping their drinks and stare at the mirrored wall behind the bar. It was only after the last of the staff bid goodnight to Tony, did the crystallized standstill shatter.

"I know," Bucky said to no one in particular. He reached up, running a hand through his hair, absently tucking it behind his ear and remembering the feel of Johnny's fingers tugging his brunet strands. A ghost of a smirk crossed his face before it went neutral again. "I know," he said again. "The shovel talk. I hurt him, you hurt me. Got it."

Tony did smirk. "Actually," he said, "You hurt the kids…then Pepper, myself and all of SI will hurt you. Johnny's a big boy and can take care of himself." He tossed back the last swallow of his drink then stood up. "Don't drink the bar dry kiddies," he said in parting as he headed to the elevator. He had a special date with a special lady who didn't take too kindly to him being late.

Steve turned his head to look at his friend. He'd seen that same expression a few times before, when Bucky thought he'd found the perfect dame. It never lasted long if he remembered correctly, something always came up and Bucky would spend his nights at the local dance halls or bars, depending on the money. He shook his head then looked past his friend to Natasha. He was surprised they were still partners. He had just about settled on what he was going to say, had turned to speak, when a hand on his arm stopped him. He turned to look and saw Sharon shake her head with a smile. He returned the smile as he pushed his half empty glass away. Nodding he stood up, offering his hand to her as he did. "I've said it all before so I won't repeat myself, so stay out of trouble jerk."

Bucky huffed a laugh in reply before grinning. "And you need to get into trouble punk," he said, a small nod towards Sharon. He ducked his head slightly with a laugh as the woman in question slapped him playfully in return for the comment. "'Night you two," he called when they reached the elevator. Once the doors closed he let out a sigh as he rested his crossed arms on the bar top.

" _I take it he didn't object._ " A statement, not a question, from Natasha.

Bucky shrugged. " _We didn't exactly talk._ " He glanced to the side, noting Natasha's raised eyebrow. " _What? We didn't. We got to the consensus of it wasn't a 'No'._ "

Nat rolled her eyes. " _I could have told you that,_ " she said with a sly smile as she played with her empty glass. " _Having second thoughts yet_?" she asked.

" _No. Unless you count strategic planning on how to get the three of us together to talk. Maybe more than talk._ " He uncrossed his arms and stood up, stretching as he did before holding an arm out. " _Care to head to somewhere more private?_ "

" _There's no where private in Stark Tower, but our room is close enough I guess_ ," Nat responded as she slid off the stool and took Bucky's arm. Once they reached the elevator, and stepped in, Nat decided it was a perfect moment to ask an important question. " _Do you want to have his babies?_ " she asked.

Bucky jerked his head around so fast he almost gave himself whiplash as he stared wide-eyed at Nat. He had completely forgotten about Johnny's kids. The last time he had any dealings with kids was his three siblings when he was growing up. Which was, in and of itself, another painful reminder of all he'd lost. One day, he should find out if he had any living relatives left.

Behind them, the lights slowly faded until the room was completely dark. The hoard of cleaning bots emerged from their places and got to work. FRIDAY, after another security check, uploaded the elevator video to the Boss's private server. If AIs could whistle, FRIDAY would be doing so with an innocent grin.

Nothing ever goes as planned. The Avengers received a call to assemble just after sunrise forcing those staying at Stark Tower to depart without having a chance to say goodbye. Then a series of events would keep Natasha and Bucky from having a chance to discuss anything with Johnny of any importance for over three months. They were able to call every so often or text, but that was the extent of it. When they did finally meet up with him again, it was not under the best of situations. It seemed it was his chance to return the favor of a rescue.


	4. Chapter 4

Foxx Hunting

by Phantomchajo

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.

Italics usually means another language that I'm too lazy to have translated into that language))

Chap 4

Mid-March, somewhere in North Eastern China...

Foxx is glad he has on some of his heavier gear as the night falls and the temperature drops even further, almost to the freezing point. He still has at least an hour, give or take, on foot before he will get to his target location. If he's lucky he might be able to catch a ride and make it there even faster. He didn't have a deadline per se, but it was a general consensus that the faster he got in, took care of business and got out, the better it would be for everyone involved. It was a damned good thing he'd been in the area (generally speaking) doing a job of tech retrieval/disposal for Tony when he'd gotten the call.

 **48 hrs previously…**

"Alright boss man, that's the last of the chips. The virus has been uploaded to the production servers, the quality control has been sabotaged, all the financial records downloaded, and I have the ledgers. Anything else?"

"No, just the usual. Get out safely and meet at the rendezvous point."

Foxx made one last survey of the area then departed just as silently as he arrived, bypassing security as if it was never there. "Hey boss, how the hell can someone, who is locked up in a federal pen, still cause so much headache?" he asked.

"I have to think on that one so I'll get back to you on that-Hold."

Foxx froze, his stealth suit allowing him to blend in seamlessly with his surroundings. He let his awareness expand, searching for anything that might become a problem. He'd been doing this work long enough to know when and when not to start asking questions. Right now was not a good time, especially when text started scrolling across the lower part of his mask's HUD. As he waited, he rotated his left shoulder as best he could without drawing any attention to himself. Though healed, it still was fresh enough to cause occasional twinges if he overused his left arm.

"Well shit."

"Boss?"

"You're skills are being requested. You can still say no. You have the final say in it."

"What's the job?" Foxx asked.

"Retrieval of highly valuable…. really? 'Assets'? You're calling them 'Assets' still? They-"

The comm went dead as text started scrolling again. Apparently the boss forgot (maybe but highly doubtful) that his end of the line was still open. Foxx waited patiently for the comm to be re-established.

"Anyways, the pirate needs your skill to play rescue. Again, you can say no if you want."

"Who needs rescuing?"

"The Avengers."

He could hear the smirk in the boss's voice. Foxx sighed as he tapped his head against the tree he was crouched next to. "You know I owe them. Tell One Piece I'll do it."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Apologize to Doc and give the kids my love. Let em know I'll call them before bed tomorrow. I've also got souvenirs for everyone too," Foxx said as he stood up and stretched. "Same meet up point?"

"Yeah, drop off the goodies and I'll fly the bird home. We really need to get you flying lessons. I can't always remote pilot it for you."

"Yeah yeah… one day."

 **Present...**

Foxx arrived at his target location far quicker than he expected due to some local assistance. That assistance was how he found himself sitting in the elder's hut, having tea, and learning of the village's problem with the outsiders. When he pointed out that he was also an outsider, the elder laughed and claimed he was sent by the spirits as an answer to their prayers.

It turns out that base was completely underground and the group, some alphabet soup wannabes (no one was sure if it was HYDRA, AIM, or a mix of the two), had decided to move one of the local villages on top of it as a means to further disguise it. The problem was, the villagers didn't agree to it and wanted no part of the group's activities. So any chance the villagers got, they caused trouble until the group started taking hostages as insurance for good behavior. Patrols would go in, pick out someone (usually a female) then cart them off. Whether or not the person was returned depended on the patrol. It was one such patrol that he had come across. And while he himself didn't kill (except in the most dire of situations), he wasn't averse to someone doing the killing while in his presence. Especially if the scumbag deserved it.

Foxx mentally thanked all the gods for learning how to sit through a proper tea ceremony. Once the pleasantries and rituals were out of the way, he got down to business. He also thanked FRIDAY (thus Tony) for the translator program, as he slid the mask back in place. " _Honored Elder, what can you tell me about these outsiders?_ " he asked.

" _Two growing seasons ago, the outsiders started appearing. The men of our distant sister village to the north were first to vanish, then the women, leaving only the elders and the children behind. All of our sister villages from the surrounding lands helped as they could by taking in the elders and children. We did our part as well,_ " the elder said, telling the story in a sing-song quality. _"Every week, we would host travelers from our sister villages, but soon after the number became fewer and fewer. We sent people to those villages, but they came back with tales of people going missing. Some claimed it was the spirits taking revenge for not following the old ways. Others say it was outsiders, jealous of the gifts the spirits gave us._ " The elder paused, sipping their tea and looking the Fox Spirit's servant in the face. " _We had planted this seasons rice, looking over our shoulders at the shadows that prowled the edge of our village. No travelers came to us anymore and we feared to send anyone, in case the shadows took them from us. We had thought we escaped the notice of the outsiders, but we were wrong. Not long after we harvested the rice, they came. Taking our men and our women. Taking our food and our animals. Finally they took everyone and forced us to move here, to this land. Land that is sick from their poisons. We hear it moan and call out but cannot do anything for the spirits of the land except pray and give offerings._ " The Elder smiled. " _The spirits have answered our prayers and accepted our offerings. They sent you._ "

Foxx sighed, wishing these people didn't see him as some spirit blessed servant. But if that meant he had help, then he'd take it. " _I will do what I can Honored Elder. Can you or one of your people show me where these outsiders come and go from?_ "

A young woman by the name of Yong was summoned to the elder's hut, to act as Foxx's guide around the village. Even though she had a low IQ, Yong was very smart in other ways. She was overlooked, because the outsiders thought her both plain and simple minded, but in truth she was a savant and well cared for by the village as a whole. Over the next day, she showed him the locations of the main ventilation shafts, the main entry and the back door entry. She was even able to describe the hectic activity several days prior when the outsiders brought in a large crate that was heavily guarded. When asked why the crate stood out, she said it had holes along the top and she could hear yelling coming from it.

Later that evening, Foxx was once more sitting across from the elder. Yong was present along with several other people. The decision was made to make his way into the base via one of the ventilation shafts. As he was doing that, the villagers would be dropping smudge pots down the other shafts to create a little chaos. And if some of the outsiders happened to disappear at the same time, no one had any problems with that. Sometime in the dead of the morning hours before dawn, the entire village left their huts, dressed in dark clothing and went to work.

Foxx wasn't sure if he should be surprised or worried when everything went off without a hitch. Usually that meant something would bite him on the ass later. As he made his way silently through the base, he took out everyone he came across. 'Gods bless whomever came up with the dendrotoxin ammo,' he thought to himself as he checked how much he had left in his current cartridge. Even though he carried a pair of custom colt .45s as backup, he rarely had to use them. Instead he used custom created flechette pistol that used compressed gas cartridges. Upside was each clip held about 30 flechettes with enough dendrotoxin to drop a large man. The downside was the maximum range was greatly shortened and effect only lasted, at most 20 minutes. But that was what the zipties and duct tape was for, to secure and silence the person.

Prowling through the base, Foxx comes to the conclusion that the base is only two and a half stories underground. The half story is probably a sub basement where the generators, environmental equipment and fuel is stored. The floor he arrived on seemed to be living quarters, the mess, any administrative offices the place might have and the communications center. He hasn't made it down to the next floor yet to find out what it holds. He's starting to think that either the base is really woefully understaffed since he's come across only a handful of people, almost like night security. Or else there was something more in those smudge pots the villagers dropped into the ventilation shafts. He doesn't take his mask off to find out. He slips into the communications center with an easy that's making him uneasy. When he slips back out again, he's back in contact with the Boss.

"Took you long enough."

"Yeah yeah, kinda of got side tracked with the villagers forced to live above the base," Foxx commented in reply. "By the way, has anyone made headway in figuring out who this alphabet soup group is?" he asked as he ghosted along the main corridor that lead to an elevator and a dumbwaiter. He bypassed them for the moment to check where the stairwell for the area was located. "What the hell?" he muttered as he did a second check on the stairs. "Ok, this place is just getting weirder and weirder. Has FRIDAY dug up the blueprints for this place by any chance?"

"I'll have her check with the local code enforcement board. Everyone has to file with them before construction can get started." Came the sarcastic reply.

"Boss.. any chance you can get that insect fellow on the line?"

"Ant-Man?" The tone is of curiosity. "Why do you need him?"

Foxx looked through the window in the stairwell door once more. "Because I think this just might be his area of expertise…." He activated the micro-cams in the eyes of the mask to transmit the images back to the Boss.

"Ohhkay..Get back to the comm center and see if there's a way to lock that base down from the inside."

Twenty minutes later, Foxx is sitting in the comm center, listening to the Boss and Dr. Pym discuss (read: argue about) what's going on. Apparently a few years back, Ant-Man somehow lost a diluted batch of whatever it was that allowed him to shrink and grow, that they'd been experimenting with at the time. He's got the live security feed being transmitted back to the boss so he can see what's going on as well. It's probably being relayed to Dr. Pym also from the sound of things.

The floor below is mostly open space, like a warehouse. Roughly 10 foot from floor to ceiling with exposed pipes and conduits lining the ceiling. Around the walls are what looks to be a shelving units. Except they are not. It's a cross between prison cells and small animal cages, stacked two high. Some sections are dark while others are lit up. Towards the middle of the floor is a miniaturized production line, complete with equally miniaturized people. Guards patrol the entire floor as lab coated men and women move back and forth, adding material to the production line, taking the finished products or shuttling the tiny people back and forth via carts. And sitting in the middle of the floor is a table with a large glass cube made up of cages, three high by three wide. Inside of those cages were the Avengers.

Foxx watched as the people on the floor below finally figured out that they were now locked in and had no means of leaving the floor. After what looked to be a bit of a heated debate, the production line was shut down and Lilliputians were returned to their cell/cages. After they were put away, crates were moved about so that they created barriers on either side of the cube. Due to either poor or purposeful design, the only way off that floor was via the elevator, the dumbwaiter or the stairs, which were all on the same side. And from the look of it, these people were prepared to shoot first, shoot again, then maybe demand answers, bypassing the ask part completely. He poked at the video feed controls a little, finding the one control that allowed him to zoom in some. He was able to get a little better look. It seemed that everyone had objected to being caged. The damage done was dependant upon the person's nature. As for the cages the local villagers were in, he could see they were gathering at the front, watching the outsiders with interest. After some searching, he found the master override switch to the cages, including the ones the Avengers were in. He now had the ability to open one, several at a time or even all of the cages at once.

Since the Boss was busy, Foxx consulted with FRIDAY. The AI was able to find the Avengers' comm frequency and patch him into it on the second channel. Keeping his end of the line muted, he listened to what little conversation was currently going on. "Tell the boss, when he'd done arguing with bug boy, I'll be down stairs dealing with things," he said as he left the room. Backtracking to his original start point, he hauled the two men out of the supply closet and proceeded to drag them to the elevator. Neither one was conscious, which just confirmed to him that he did not want to take off his mask. He opened the stairwell door and shoved the first one through with enough force to keep him moving until he reached the edge of the first step. By the time the man reached the landing, he was half his original size and still shrinking. "Yep, stairs are a no-go," he muttered. He shoved the second man into the dumbwaiter, then sent it down. The echoing hail of gunfire was the answer to whether or not it was safe to use.

Returning to the com center, Foxx examined the security feeds again. He unmuted the second channel finally. "Sitrep, Captain."

Everyone of the Avengers stilled as a new voice came over their comm. It only lasted for a few seconds before they went right back to what they had been doing, as if nothing had changed since the guards had opened fire on the dumbwaiter and its occupant.

"A dozen guards with almost twice as many in lab coats, even split of the guards, more lab coats to the right side," Steve answered, sotto voce.

"When the cages unlock, is there any noise? Yours or theirs."

"Negative on the others. Ours haven't been unlocked yet."

Foxx contemplated his next move with care. A lot of lives were at stake. Leaning forward, his fingers danced over the keys as commands were entered into the system. "Is there a clear line of sight between you and the elevators."

"Affirmative."

"On my mark, your cages will unlock in 5 minutes. The other cages will unlock 1 minute later. I'll be dropping in about the same time," Foxx said as he hit enter then was up and moving to the elevator. "Mark." He checked his weapons once more. He would have to go with his pistols then close range to avoid collateral damage. "Once you're out, get everyone to ground level as fast as possible."

"Roger that," Steve replied as he glanced at the others.

The clock was ticking away in the corner of his HUD as Foxx, steadily made his way to the elevator. Once he closed the doors, he didn't immediately hit the floor button. Instead he looked up and found the ceiling hatch. He eased it open, scanning for security measures. Locating none, he flipped the hatch completely open but didn't climb through. Reaching over he pushed the floor button then stepped back so he could look up through the hatch as it made its descent. Before the elevator completely stopped, he dropped and rolled to the side, activating the stealth system as he did. As he lay there listening to the rattling hail storm of bullets as they ripped through the opening doors, he shifted his focus into that place where he's hyperaware of movement all around him. (Tony had jokingly called it a jedi battle meditation trick and the term stuck.) "Party time," he said as he opened his eyes and went to work.

When the fight was finally over, the casualties were minimal. Not including the dead guard in the dumbwaiter, two other guards were dead and several of the lab coats were injured when a third guard went down with his finger on the trigger. The rest were currently unconscious, zip tied hand and foot, and silenced with the duct tape incase they came to earlier than expected. The villagers were all gathered together, only minimal injuries amongst them when part of a cage section had collapsed after being torn apart by bullets. If FRIDAY was translating properly, there was a bit of a debate going on as to whether or not the remaining outsiders should be allowed to live.

Foxx did not want to get into the middle of that right now. He'd leave it up to the village elders, the local authority and SHIELD to work out. Right now, he was down on one knee in the elevator with Rhodey perched on his shoulder working on getting it up and running again. "If we can't get this going, I can always go out and get rope to rig a pulley system to bring everyone up top," Foxx said as he carefully patched several wires together in the order Rhodey indicated.

"I don't know," Rhodey commented. "That's a lot of hauling up and down. There's easily close to two hundred people in there." He jumped off Foxx's shoulder, igniting his repulsors and making a closer inspection. "That should do it, if it work that is."

"Do you want to load as many into the elevator and give it a try, in case it's a one way trip?" Foxx asked as he stood up and dusted his hands off. "We should be able to get them all in. Use a couple of those carts like double deckers or something." He looked out the doors to the gathering.

"What about the prisoner's?" Steve asked as he easily hopped the gap between the floor and the elevator.

"What about them?" Foxx asked back as he looked up at the ceiling's hatch. "They won't all fit in here, even standing. SHIELD or whomever claims jurisdiction over them can come get them. A day without food or water won't hurt them in the least." A flashing text in the corner of his hud grabbed his attention. "Got a call coming in," he said before switching to his primary comm channel. "Yes?"

"I take it you took care of business?"

"Yeah, I did," Foxx replied as he jumped up, grabbing the edges of the hatch, then pulled himself through so he was on the roof of the elevator. "What's ETA on retrieval?"

"When you open the front door."

The distance between the floors were about 8 foot, so it didn't take much to climb far enough up the side of the shaft to trigger the door release and get them open so he could crawl out. "Who?"

"The Pirate and his crew."

"That was… fast," Foxx commented as he looked at the time. He'd spent less time down below than he originally thought, it was just past mid-morning. He made his way to the communications center, took the base off of lockdown then returned to the elevator to drop down once more.

By the time everyone was brought up from below, prisoners sorted out, and the SHIELD crew was picking through everything in the base, it was a bit past noon. Foxx was sitting on the porch of the elder's hut and sipping tea, the remains of his lunch next to him. Inside was the elder of this village plus the elders of all the other's that had been taken along with Fury, Steve and a translator. The rest of the Avengers were scattered about, doing whatever they did during post mission clean up. He only listened with half an ear to what was being said, instead he was paying more attention to a group of children playing with traditional diabolos (yoyos). It didn't take long before he was amongst the children, learning how to work the diabolos and joining in on the fun.

When Fury exited some time later, he wasn't in the best of moods, but neither was he in a foul mood. SHIELD's offer of assistance was turned down, including seeking a means to return the people to their former size. Due to the Accords, he was forced to accept that decision. The medics and science techs were highly disappointed that they didn't have all the people under their care, but they did have the one miniaturized guard to examine. That was all they were getting. They thought they were getting the Avengers as well but Steve and Company had other plans.

Towards late evening, Foxx's ride home had landed. It was a smaller version of the original Avengers' quinjet, complete with stealth technology, that Tony or FRIDAY remote piloted. It was only used on jobs that required him to travel to places commercial airlines didn't (or couldn't) go. The entire village was out to see him off, giving traditional well wishes along with some parting gifts, such as tea leaves and diabolos of his own.

Using Foxx's unintended distraction during his leave taking, the Avengers stealthily made their way onto the mini-quinjet and stowed away. The decision to not return with Fury and SHIELD was an easy one to make after seeing the look the medics and scientists were giving all the shrunken people. Several of the Avengers did not have the best experiences with labs after all.

Half way over the Sea of Japan, Foxx finally pulled his mask off completely. "You might as well come out," he said after rubbing his face for a few moments. Swiveling the chair around, he got up and moved to one of the cases near the mid-section. He slowly divested himself of his weapons, stowing them away after checking each one over. "It's going to be a long trip. Might as well get comfortable while you can. Tony and Dr. Pym are working on a means of returning you back to your proper size. And since you're here with me instead of back with One Piece, I'll presume you won't mind staying with me until then." Once his gear was packed away, he turned around to another case, opened it and removed the lid. He pulled out a blanket from a compartment and padded the interior of the case with it, leaving enough to cover the lid, which he had secured to the floor next to it as well. Sitting back on his heels, he surveyed the men and women before him. "Hope no one objects to becoming the only living action figures in the world, because Alexei and Riley will definitely want to play with you."

"Hey Punk, this might be the best time for you and 13 there to play house," Bucky said with a snicker. The punch was well worth the look on Steve's face.

Johnny just shook his head and returned to the pilot's seat. It didn't take long before Nat and Bucky climbed their way up, to find comfortable places on his shoulders and relax for the rest of the flight home.


	5. Chapter 5

Foxx Hunting

by Phantomchajo

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.

Italics usually means another language that I'm too lazy to have translated into that language. An adult variation of Johnny's offer in this chapter is currently WIP - See my profile for the link to my A03 account. I will not be publishing it here on FFNet, thank you.))

* * *

Chap 5

Mid-April, the El Cerrito compound….

Steve made his way down to Johnny's office, which was located in the basement of the multi-story house. It felt good to be his proper size again and able to do things on his own instead of relying on someone else to do it for him. And as much as he enjoyed playing with the kids, there was only so much he could take before even his stamina was exhausted. How Johnny managed it along with everything else he did during the day was a mystery. Once he reached the office, he saw that the door was open and could hear voices. Stepping into the doorway, he leaned against the casing, tucking one hand into his jean pocket, he waited.

Johnny was leaning against the front of his desk with his ankles crossed, one arm crossed over his chest and the elbow of his other arm resting in the palm. His right hand was manipulating a holographic book as he spoke to an older sounding man on the phone. "Yes Mr. Moreland, I'm looking at your accounts right now. I've gone over last year's financial records with the proverbial fine toothed comb and found nothing amiss. Every mistake I found was of the clerical nature, which I backtracked to the original receipts and corrected. So you are good to go on filing your taxes for this quarter."

"I'll have my people get on it as soon as possible. Thank you once again John."

Johnny winced slightly, he always hated being called 'John'. "You're very welcome Mr. Moreland. Have a good day." He disconnected the call with a sigh. A simple gesture had the holo-book close, then tuck itself away on what looked to be a shelf before vanishing completely. "What can I do for you Steve?" he asked as he pushed himself away from the desk.

"Just wanted to say thanks for opening your home to us these last few weeks," Steve said as he straightened up and entered the office. It was the second time he'd been in the room, but the first time he'd been able to look around, being one foot tall made looking at what was on the wall a bit difficult. With an artist's eye he examined the room and decorations on the wall. The wooden furniture were simple, tasteful, and above all, functionally comfortable. The natural color and grain of the wood was offset perfectly by the lighter color of the wood paneling and complimentary color of the hardwood floor. Japanese silk screen paintings hung on opposite walls depicting sakura blossoms, willow trees and of course foxes. Hung on the wall behind Johnny's desk was a beautiful kimono depicting a bamboo forest with lake. The full moon was reflected in the tranquil waters as a family of foxes frolic on its shore. Below it was a low table with sword display. "You really have the whole fox motif going don't you," he said as he sat down in the proffered chair.

Johnny waved it off as he took a seat behind the desk, then gestured for Steve to grab a chair his own self. "They were gifts from Alara's mother and great-grandmother. They've been in storage for years. When I moved here I was finally able to bring them out and display them properly," he said. "Considering you guys put up with me for over three months at the Tower during that fiasco with Doom, this doesn't even come close to paying you back."

"The Tower was always Tony's. We didn't have a lot to say about who did and didn't live there," Steve countered.

"You'd be surprised," Johnny said with a laugh as he leaned back in his chair. "Seriously, what can I do for you?"

Thinking about what he was going to say, Steve studied Johnny for several moments. "I'd like to start off with an apology for not being fair to you the first time around. I didn't consider you Avenger material due to your past," he said. "Only recently have I realized just how hypocritical I was being. After all Wanda volunteered to be experimented on by HYDRA, yet we accepted her. Both Romanoff and Barton were assassins who killed on orders without questioning them most of the time. Before he retired, Barton was one of our best and Romanoff has proven herself more times than I can count." He paused, thinking of how he was going to word the next part. "And then there's Buck…. my best friend, who was turned into a brainwashed killing machine by HYDRA, for HYDRA's benefits. Yet after everything that happened, here he is. A solid member of the team."

Johnny stayed silent, listening to what Steve was saying.

"What I'm trying to say is, after watching you when you came to our rescue, I think you'd make a fine addition if you ever want on the team," Steve said.

"Apology accepted," Johnny replied without a hesitation. "As for being an Avenger, I don't think that's a life for me. I'd always have a fear that someone would go after my kids to get to me," he shook his head. "But, if you ever need my assistance for anything or need backup in general, I'm more than willing to lend a hand." He chuckled, "Even if it's nothing more than being the accounting manager." He gestured to the office in general. "I have plenty of experience as you can see." He sat up straight once more, his curiosity getting the better of him. "I'm curious. Tony once commented that he paid for everything when the Avengers called the tower home. Did he mean that? That he paid for everything, including any personal items you or the others may have wanted or needed? Which brings me to the question, how are you getting paid for doing what you do?" He picked up a stylus from off the desk, and tapped the top right corner. The desktop itself lite up like a giant tablet. Another tap brought up the notepad program. "If you don't wish to speak about it, that's perfectly understandable," he added.

"No, actually I don't mind. It was 1941 when I crashed the plane. Back then a dollar was worth a dollar and you could buy a hell of alot for it. Then again, banks still weren't fully trusted," Steve said.

"Huh… that's right. You actually lived through the Great Depression," Johnny said, looking up at Steve in thought before he leaned back. "You know, if you ever wanted to get out of being an Avenger, you'd have universities and colleges fighting over each other if you got a teacher's degree in history."

Steve laughed, "Most tell me I should be an artist."

Johnny shook his head. "Artist on the side. Become an educator. Get kids interested in the past so they can see where we came from, to better understand where we are going. And also to show them where we went both wrong and right along the way."

"I'll think on it," Steve answered with an easy smile. "No, back then if someone brought home than 20 a week, they were making the money. Before the serum, I was honestly doing good to make enough money to pay for a one room apartment in Brooklyn. Now Buck on the other hand, he was making the money, and he was always lending me money back then," he said as he settled back in the chair. "Once I'd been picked for the project, I was getting army pay. A whole 50 a month, but I didn't have to pay for a place and most of my clothes were provided. After the serum but before I really became Captain America, I was on the USO tour making 75 a month. All over America before we headed to Europe. Didn't smoke, rarely drank since alcohol didn't affect me anymore. No dame or family to send money home to. I think I blew most of it on sketch books and art supplies." He's starting to feel a bit nostalgic and misplaced so he shook his head to clear it. "Once I woke up, things were so much different. Turns out I had back pay owed me. Once everything was tallied up I'm sitting on a pretty pile of money and no idea what anything is worth anymore. I let SHIELD handle it. Still do to be honest. Money goes into an account, if I need anything I just swipe a little plastic card and it's mine. As for when I was living at the Tower, it was pretty much the same, except the plastic card had SI on it instead of my name. Only so much I could take of it before I started using my own money instead of Stark's."

Johnny arched an eyebrow. Tony he could understand, the man was born rich, raised rich and doubtfully had any idea of what the value of things were. He carried 100's and 50's in his wallet, when he even bothered with a wallet that is. But for Steve, someone who knew the value of a dollar when it was worth something, to just let someone else handle it all. That was a surprise. "Tell you what, if you ever want to know what your finances really are, let me take a look." He held up a hand and ticked off points. "First, I have little interest in the fact you are Captain America. You're just a man who happens to save the world on a regular basis. Second, I have nothing to gain from it. Scamming money off of you would be a pointless endeavor. I work for Stark directly, money is not an issue. And third, this is a good way to debunk those conspiracy theories of people who think you are secretly laundering money or funneling it into financing the groups you go against as a way of making sure you are needed." He saw the look on Steve's face. "Trust me when I say there is a conspiracy theory for anything and everything nowadays."

"I'll take your word for it," Steve said holding up a hand. "Now that everyone is back to our proper size, we should contact Fury." He thought about it for a few moments. "Should..."

"But you're not, are you?" Johnny asked, leaning forward and propping his chin on his fist.

Steve just smiled. "If you don't mind us staying for a little longer, then no."

Johnny glanced down at his desktop, his grin turned into a long drawn out sigh. "Not at all. You're more than welcome to stay as long as you like. If you can put up with tattletales, jealous tantrums and the general havok a pair of children create," he nodded towards the door. "Incoming."

A soft ding from down the hall indicated the small lift had arrived on the floor. "Papa! Papa!" Riley called as she ran down the hall to her papa's office. "Papa! Donnie pushed me then hit me with his door, Papa!" She bypassed Steve, went right around the desk and started bouncing on her toes. She grabbed her papa's arm and started tugging. "Papa! Do something!"

Johnny swiveled his chair around so he faced his daughter head on as he extracted his arm from her grip. He placed both hands on her shoulder to stop her bouncing. "Alright, I hear you. You don't need to yell," he said calmly, in a slightly softer tone. Once he had Riley's attention, he started the often repeated process of getting to the bottom of the matter. "Alright Imp, now tell me what happened."

Still relaxed back in his chair, Steve brought up a hand to cover his mouth. Otherwise his grin might get him in trouble with the petite, fiery little imp of a child.

Taking a big breath, Riley launched into her tale. "Donnie's girlfriend is here and I wanted to play with her and they went to his room and Donnie got mad and shoved me out of his room and slammed the door in my face and wouldn't open it when I told him to and.. and… and he's being mean Papa! He's bad. He won't let me play with Kala." She started bouncing again, her face taking on the slight red hue of anger and breathlessness.

"I see," Johnny said. "So for no reason, Donnie refused to let you play with his girlfriend, Kala, after she came over. Then he shoved you out of his room, slammed the door in your face and refused to open it when you pounded on it with your fists and demanded he open it." He caught her hands, turning them over to look at the slight redness.

"Uh-huh!" Riley said, nodding vigorously. "He pushed me real hard too!"

"Alright," Johnny replied. "So, if I go up and talk to Donnie, he will tell me the same thing?" he asked.

The expression on Riley's face changed. From almost gleeful expectation of seeing someone punished to uncertainty at her own standing in all of this. "Uh...no…" She was at an age where, if she got in trouble for anything she wanted to get others in trouble as well.

Johnny glanced at Steve, rolling his eyes as he did. "No? So he'll say he didn't push you out of his room or slam the door in your face?"

Shaking her head, Riley answered after several moments. "I don't know…."

"You don't know…."

"I don't know…" Riley repeated.

With a sigh, Johnny leaned forward, placing his hands on his knees. "Well then, looks like I'll just have to get down to the bottom of this matter." He looked at his daughter, then glanced once more at Steve before looking back at her. "Now, you remember what the punishment for fibbing is?"

"But I haven't lie-ed. I'm telling the truth!" Riley said forcefully, her voice getting louder at the end.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Johnny said, shaking a finger. "None of that. Now let's go." Standing up, he snatched Riley up and threw her over his shoulder as he poked her in the side then went after her feet.

Steve slowly stood up, shaking his head and laughing as he followed Johnny out of the office.

* * *

By the time Alexei and Riley were put to bed, Johnny was ready for a drink. As he figured, the deal with her getting 'exiled' from Donnie's room was due to her trying to take up all of Kala's time. The teenager had gotten tired of it, had shooed her out of his room on multiple occasions before finally closing his door and locking her out. When Doc had her days off, Kala would sometimes come over and babysit for some extra cash and Riley adored her. Conflicts were expected, looked for and caught as soon as possible so they could be dealt with. Dealing with Alexei on the other hand, was much simpler yet more exhausting. Mock wrestling, hide and seek, chasing and being chased, building stuff with his legos then wrecking it with giggling abandon. He had yet to reach the stage Riley was in.

Standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the den, with a glass of his preferred drink in hand, Johnny looked the gathering over. "Ladies and gents, feel free to do as you please. All I ask is that you keep the chaos to a dull roar as to not wake the sleeping demons called children," he said then took a sip. "Oh, and don't worry about offending me if you decide to hide out until after they go to bed as long as you're here. It's very understandable. I call them my little demons for a reason. As for me, I plan on retiring to my rooms. I should be up for a while though if you need me for anything. Good night," he said as he saluted with his glass then disappeared from the doorway.

Natasha and Bucky were polite and waited a whole 15 minutes before they took their leave and headed up to Johnny's rooms. This was going to be the best opportunity they would get, to have that talk between the three of them, about where they were going relationship wise. Natasha knocked on the door as Bucky stood with arms crossed.

When the door opened, Johnny was still dressed in jeans and a loose long sleeved shirt. He leaned on the door frame, lips curled up in a welcoming smile. He looked at Natasha then Bucky then back to Natasha before he raised an eyebrow and motioned with his head for them to enter. He let his eyes roam over each of them as they passed him, his smile grew into a smirk when they turned and did the same. He closed the door, locked it, then turned to lean against it casually.

Bucky was positioned so he could see Natasha from the corner of his eye, even as he was looking at Johnny. He saw her make a subtle gesture for him to proceed as she shifted her stance. He didn't question it or wait for her to change her mind, instead he walked right up to Johnny, slide his right hand behind his head and his left hand around his waist. He locked his eyes with the other man for a few seconds before moving in, to capture his smirking lips in a dominating kiss. He moved one leg forward to wedge between Johnny's thighs, pressing his growing arousal against him. He felt hands slip around his waist, into the back of his jeans to cup then squeeze his ass. A second set of hands moved around to his groin, teasingly caressing him through the material. One of the hands vanished but a moment later the ones on his ass spasmed as he felt/heard Johnny moan enticingly.

Johnny was more than willing to pick up where he and Bucky had left off back during the New Year's eve party. He melted into the kiss, submitting with ease, as he slid his hands into the back of Bucky's jeans to caress and knead warm skin and strong muscles. He sensed Natasha moving close, but wasn't expecting her to start caressing his hardening length, causing him to moan in pleasure.

Natasha let out an amused chuckle as she continued to caress both men while she leaned against Bucky's back. " _Not much talking going on_ ," she murmured, shifting to her tiptoes to place a light kiss on Bucky's neck, just below his ear.

Bucky finally broke the kiss, but only for a moment so he could reply to Natasha. " _Just started the preliminaries. Patience Natalia..._ ," he commented.

"Gods, I don't care that I don't understand you, but it sounds sexy as fuck," Johnny uttered.

Bucky chuckled before nipping along Johnny's jawline, muttering random words in Russian. He received a rather firm squeeze from Natasha for it. " _Like you wouldn't do it either_ ," he said with a chuckle.

" _True,_ " Natasha replied as she placed another kiss to the other side of Bucky's neck. " _When you're done with the 'preliminaries', come join me on the couch,_ " she instructed as she gave both another lingering caress before turning around and sauntering off to the couch.

After several more minutes of intense making out, Bucky gave Johnny one last kiss. "So what do you have in mind?" he asked finally as he pressed close to Johnny.

"A lot," Johnny replied. He turned his head slightly so Bucky's ear was less than an inch away from his lips. His lips caressed Bucky's earlobe before he took the flesh between his teeth and nibbled. "No interference until morning when the little demons get up." He took Bucky's earlobe between his lips again and sucked gently. "We can do anything you two desire to do tonight." He felt Bucky shiver against him. "Just tell me what you want to do. With me, or to me. Tell me and I'm sure we can work something out, but after we talk."

Bucky nodded as he reached back and patted Johnny's hands (that were still tucked inside his jeans). "Gotta let me go first so we can sit down to talk."

"Hmm….. I guess so," Johnny murmured, slowly withdrawing his hands from the back of Bucky's jean. He teasingly drew his fingernails across the taut flesh of Bucky's backside. Slipping away from Bucky's grasp wasn't hard, but he also knew Bucky wasn't trying either. He sauntered over to the couch and sat down on the right hand side, unashamed of the obvious erection he had.

It took Bucky a few moments to move to the couch since he had to adjust himself before he could walk without too much discomfort. Relaxed, well broken in jeans or not, no underwear plus an erection equals some discomfort of some type. Once he settled on the couch on the opposite end (Natasha in the middle obviously), he gestured for Johnny to start.

From his place on the couch, Johnny studied both for several minutes. "I want to know what you two are looking for. Because what you want will affect what I'm willing to offer. One or the other, separately or together as a pair. I can work with any of those as long as I know what it is you two are wanting or needing."

Bucky laid a hand on Natasha's shoulder and squeezed. What Johnny was asking was both so simple yet so complicated all at the same time. He honestly wasn't sure what he wanted, besides the most obvious of physical release in the form of sex. But if it was just sex, then Natasha could fulfill that need just as easily as anyone else and he knew she would keep the secrets he was willing to share, just as he kept hers. So no, sex wasn't the answer. He had to look further for the answer to the question asked.

Reaching up, Natasha laid her hand on Bucky's hand and squeezed back. Like him, she was having to look deeper for an answer that could be given. What she wanted was something she had always been forced to watch, like an outsider looking in, even when the door had been opened for her. For a little while she did have what she wanted, but when Clint retired, he had unwittingly taken it away from her. Oh sure she could take off at any time to visit, but enough time had passed that that closeness was no longer there. Not to mention the little fact that no one outside a handful of people even knew Clint had a family.

Standing up, Johnny walked around the back of the couch where he placed his hand over Bucky and Natasha's joined hands. "Think on it, the answer need not be given tonight. Tonight can be simply a pleasurable night of physical closeness. To enjoy and savor." He withdrew his hand as he turned away, absently shucking his shirt and tossing it onto the bed. "I'll be back in a few, I think the shower was calling my name," he said with a chuckle. It wasn't a complete lie, he had wanted to take a long hot shower and relax. But it was also a way to give them some privacy if they wished to slip away to think. He left the door cracked as an invite should they wish to join him.

With her back still to Bucky, Natasha spoke. " _Do you wish to leave, so you can think about your answer?_ " she asked.

" _Do you?_ " Bucky asked back.

" _No….,_ " Natasha replied. " _Do you want to take him up on his offer for tonight?_ "

Bucky thought about it, then slowly nodded. " _Yes, but only if you want to as well._ " They were partners, and if she didn't want to, then he would turn down the offer as well.

Natasha let out a soft sigh as she turned around to face Bucky. " _You do not have to leave just because I might choose to do so._ " She maneuvered so she was sitting in his lap, facing him with her arms draped over his shoulders, fingers playing with his hair. " _You were the one who has wanted him the most,_ " she said.

" _Yes, but would you stay if I asked you to stay?_ " Bucky asked, sliding his hands onto her hips and pulling her in closer. " _Would you be willing to participate if I asked you to?_ " he asked as he started to nuzzle her neck, placing small kisses along her jawline as he had done to Johnny. " _If I asked you to, would you be willing to just let yourself go and feel? To reconnect the emotion to the act, like you ask of me?_ "

Natasha laughed softly. " _Emotional blackmail? You know that doesn't work._ "

" _Ummhmm… but as they say, what is good for the gander can be just as good for the goose._ "

" _You have the saying backwards,_ " Natasha pointed out. She gave him a quick kiss on the tip of his nose before sliding off his lap. " _I'll be right back with our bags. Wait for me, I'd like to watch._ "

" _Then don't take too long,_ " Bucky answered back as he stood up and started towards the bathroom, slowly stripping as he did.

Natasha returned a little under 10 minutes later. She shook her head after hearing the loud music coming from the bathroom when she opened the door. Johnny's room had some serious soundproofing. She was half expecting it to be club music, but instead it was rock n roll of the 50's. After closing and locking the door, she dropped her's and Bucky's bags on the couch then started picking up the trail of clothes that lead to the bathroom. "Still cleaning up after you boys it seems," she muttered to herself as she deposited them into a pile before stripping off her own clothes. Walking into the bathroom, she raised an eyebrow at the decadent nature of the room. The bathtub was a 4-person jacuzzi tub. The toilet was enclosed in its own tasteful stall and the bathroom counter held 2 sinks and plenty of room. The shower enclosure was large enough for several people with plenty of room to move and it featured a waterfall on one wall with a bench directly under it and no less than a dozen shower heads at various heights. " _What did I say about waiting for me?_ " she said as she stepped into the enclosure.

" _You were taking too long,_ " Bucky said with a smirk.

* * *

When everyone was thoroughly squeaky clean, they moved from the bathroom to the couch in the bedroom. The holographic fireplace was blazing away merrily while the space heater it disguised put out soothing warmth. Above it, on the ultra HD TV, RED was playing. Bucky and Natasha had fun dissecting the movie from the viewpoint of a trained assassin, while Johnny went through and decided who represented who. All three agreed that Fury was best represented by Marvin, for all his paranoia and hiding secrets. Steve and Sharon were Frank and Sarah, while Natasha was Victoria, making Bucky Ivan. Neither could decided if they agreed or disagreed. And as for who fit the character of Joe, no one could decide.

Once the movie was over, things started to heat up again. Especially when Natasha decided to remind Johnny of one of their first meetings. Bucky definitely enjoyed the show more than the movie. In their post coital bliss, they somehow ended up on the bed finally. For the next few hours the pace turned languid as they explored each other to the fullest extent allowed. Before passing out completely, Johnny made sure both Natasha and Bucky were wearing something, then he unlocked the door and opened it just a tiny bit. When they gave him a quizzical look, he just smiled enigmatically in return. They got their answer around 7am the following morning.

Both Alexei and Riley 'snuck' into their papa's room for the usual ritual of morning cuddles before she had to get ready for school and Doc claimed him for the day. The children were confused for a few minutes as to why there was two other people in bed with their papa, but it went away when they discovered that they were almost as good at cuddling as their papa. Though given a choice papa will always be the one they go to.

After Doc finally arrived to claim the kids then left, Johnny rolled over to his side, facing Natasha and Bucky. "Here's what's possible. All of it. Think about it," he said before sliding closer to give both a very sensual good morning kiss before slipping out of the bed to start his day.

Once Johnny was gone, Natasha and Bucky went one more round together, but found something was missing. They decided to think on everything and discuss it after lunch, then give him their answer later that night.


	6. Chapter 6

Foxx Hunting

by Phantomchajo

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.

Italics usually means another language that I'm too lazy to have translated into that language. The location mentioned is a real location located in LA, Ca.))

Chap 6

Mid-April, the El Cerrito compound….

When Johnny came down for his breakfast, most everyone had already found or made something and dispersed for the time being. He didn't mind. He had the house's AI, Wendy (short for WEDNESDAY, it was a Stark House after all,) turn on some music as he cooked. Like her 'Sister' FRIDAY, Wendy was an AI that was constantly learning, in this case, she was designed for the more civilian/domestic side of things. "Wendy, what's on my schedule for today?" he asked as he plated his meal.

"You're schedule is clear Mr. J until this afternoon when you are required to pick up Miss Riley from school. Then you both have gymnastics starting at 5pm until 7pm," Wendy said. Where FRIDAY had what sounded to be a touch of Irish in her vocalization programing, Wendy somehow ended up with a more Southern twang to her's.

"Hmmm, what's the weather forecast for this evening? I'm thinking of taking the bike to pick her up," Johnny asked as he moved to the breakfast nook. "And I take it Doc is still out?"

"Yes sir, she's doing the household shopping right now. Do you need me to contact her? And the weather should be perfect for the bike this evening. As long as you wear your jackets, gloves and scarves, that is."

"No, no. You know I trust her judgement. Lords know she has more sense than I do when it comes to impulse buys," Johnny commented. "Especial when I have the kids with me."

Wendy stayed quiet on that subject. "Anything else Mr. J?"

"No, that will be all, thank you." After finishing his breakfast, Johnny cleaned up after himself then headed down to his office. Just because nothing was due, didn't mean he had to wait till the deadline to finish it. He came up when Wendy informed him that Doc had arrived home, so he assisted in unloading the SUV.

It was short work when both T'Challa and Steve pitched in. While Johnny and Wanda distracted Alexei, Sam and Sharon helped Doc with lunch. Neither Bucky nor Natasha had been seen since the night before, which concerned Steve some. Johnny pointed out that they'd had a long talk last night and that he'd seen them that morning. Vision simply stated he didn't need to eat and chose to stand out on the back porch instead. Rhodey had left earlier that morning to report back to his duties in the military.

As Johnny helped with the after lunch clean up, Doc pulled him to one side for a moment.

"'Talk' huh?" Doc asked as she made quotation marks with her fingers, getting a grin in reply. "With both?" she asked, eyebrows moving upwards towards her hairline. The answering grin turned to a smirk. "Damn, no wonder you're in such a good mood today." She crossed her arms over her chest as she shook her head. "I don't know how you can be so lucky."

Johnny just shrugged as he continued to load the dishwasher. "You'll find someone, one day, who will see you for you. Not what you can do or who you know. Then it will be my turn to tease you about it," he said with a laugh. Their relationship was more like a close friendship than an employer/employee one. It also helped that he wasn't afraid of her because she was an inhuman and he protected her from those that wanted to use her.

Until it was time to get Riley from school, Johnny spent the afternoon doing his normal household chores. Once those were finished, he went down to the garage to give the bike a once over before gathering Riley's gear and changing into his own, which consisted of leather chaps, a matching jacket and helmet. His gear had blue flames on them, Riley's was fiery red pixies swirling around and Alexei's gear had silver stars. He stopped by the kitchen and checked the message board on the fridge for any items needed for dinner. From there he tracked down Doc, who was on the back patio with Alexei and several of the Avengers. "Heading out in a few. Need anything while I'm out?" he asked as he bent down and picked Alexei up.

"Looking good Johnny," Wanda called out before throwing the Frisbee for Mr. Snuffaluffagus to chase after.

"Papa, vroom vroom?" Alexei asked as he patted the leather jacket his papa was wearing.

Johnny grinned at Wanda then turned his attention to his son. "Yes. Papa go vroom vroom. Be good for Doc. Okay?"

"I good," Alexei said, wrapping his arms about his papa's neck and giving him a sloppy kiss before demanding to be put down again. As soon as he was down, he went chasing after Shep with a carefree giggle.

When Johnny arrived at the private charter school Riley went to, he parked and headed to the office. One of the features he loved most about the school was that the children were not allowed to go with anyone unless that person was either on the approved pick up list, or had the matching placard number assigned to the child. Even though he was very recognizable by the school staff, he still had to go through the procedures in order to pick her up, which again, was a security protocol he approved of. Riley was escorted in a few minutes later by one of the school staff, who wished her a good day then left. They used the nurse's office to change her into pants first, then put on her gear before they headed out. He stowed her backpack in one of the saddle bags, then made sure her helmet was on securely before swinging her up and over into the sidecar. The sidecar was essentially a safety pod on wheels that Tony designed and built. There was enough room for both kids and Mr. Snuffaluffagus, Shep, because she was smaller, would ride behind Johnny. On their way home he listened to Riley talk about her day, told about his when she asked and answered questions in general.

When they arrived home, there were several government black SUVs parked outside of privacy wall around the compound. As he pulled through the gate, he noticed a third one was parked in the circular driveway under the portico, which annoyed him. Since he would be departing again in under an hour, he parked the bike in the driveway instead of the garage. After taking Riley out of the sidecar, he put her on the ground and removed her helmet, then dug her backpack out of the saddle bag and handed it to her. "Remember, put your helmet on the table by the door Imp," he told her as he removed his own and held it by the chin strap.

Riley took off at a run, headed for the front door but stopped when she reached the steps that lead up to the front porch of the house. She looked back at her papa with a frown then back to the door.

When Johnny got there he saw the reason for her expression. Agent Hill was standing to one side as Director Fury was in a staring contest with Doc, who stood with arms crossed, in front of the closed door. At Doc's sides were Shep and Mr. Snuffleupagus.

"Problems Doc?" Johnny asked as he positioned himself between Riley and the two SHIELD members.

"Not at all Mr. J," Doc replied calmly. "I was just explaining to this… gentleman… that we've already donated to the local charities and we're not buying what he's trying to sell."

"I see… Please take Riley inside. I'll be in shortly," Johnny said as he picked Riley up and carried her to the door before setting her down.

Doc nodded, as she uncrossed her arms and reached back to open the door. Only after Riley was past her did she take several steps backwards, before closing the door once more, this time on the other side of it.

"What an unpleasant surprise. What can I avoid doing for you today Director Fury?" Johnny asked with a false pleasantness. "And what did you do to piss Doc off? She's normally so polite to people she meets for the first time." When Director Fury didn't say anything, he decided to take a stab in the dark. "Ah let me guess, you overrode my security, let yourself in and then marched up to the door demanding to be let in so you could speak to someone. Am I right?" he asked, glancing over to Agent Hill who only raised an eyebrow in Fury's direction as if to say 'I told you so'. "Ummhmm…" Johnny hummed before taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh. "If you expect to have an edible dinner, then I would advise against pissing Doc off anymore," he said as he opened the door. " _Escort,_ " he said, flicking a finger in the direction of the two SHIELD members. Shep immediately moved to stand slightly behind and to the right of Hill, while Mr. Snuffleupagus took up the same position with Fury.

* * *

When Johnny and Riley returned after gymnastics, Doc had dinner ready and was setting the table. He noted that neither Natasha nor Bucky was amongst the gathering. He nodded when Doc passed a message saying they were still deciding his offer. Once dinner was over with, Fury, Hill and all of the Avengers gathered in the den to talk. After putting the kids to bed, he was asked to stay and get Tony in on the discussions as well as give his opinion on a few subjects. Why they wanted his thoughts on those subjects, he had no idea.

"Tony, can we continue this in the office tomorrow?" Johnny asked. "It's getting late."

"Right, school night," Tony commented. "You'll be in office tomorrow," he said, glancing to the side of the screen. "Good. Have everyone come with you and we can continue then. I might even have something to add to it."

"Thanks Tony. And Tell Pepper I said good night," Johnny added.

"You got it kiddo," Tony replied, giving a nod to the gathering before ending the call.

Bucky and Natasha didn't get the chance to talk to Johnny and inform him of their decision. He called it a night and Fury was speaking with them for a little while longer.

* * *

Early the next morning, a rollback tow truck arrived with a trio of standard SHIELD Motorcycles along with Fury and Hill, both driving SUVs. Steve and Bucky helped unload the motorcycles, in a rare display of their enhanced strength, by simply picking them up and setting them on the ground. When the group walked back in, they were treated to Riley's normal mid-week meltdown.

"But.. but… I don't know how!" Riley practically sobbed from her place, sitting in the middle of the entry hall with several pairs of shoes in disarray around her. "And why do I have to go? Why can't Alexei go and I stay with you?"

Johnny sighed, as he knelt down in front of her, automatically sorting the shoes and picking out Riley's favored pair. "We've already talking about this. You have to go to school and Alexei is going with me today. After school, what do you have?" He tugged her socks back up then held an ankle in place as he worked the shoe on.

"Uuhh…." Riley frowned tilting her head to the side as she thought about it.

"Ssss...iii…" Johnny prompted.

"Science club?" Riley asked.

Smiling, Johnny worked the other shoe onto a squirming foot. "That's right. Science club. Doc will pick you up afterwards. She'll bring you to papa's work place and you can visit Uncle Tony and Aunt Pepper. So you need to be well behaved when you get there," he said, adding under his breath "Even though they let you two get away with everything." Standing up, he held out his hand to help Riley up. Once he had ahold of her hand, he pulled her up into his arms in a fierce cuddle-hug.

"Papa!" Riley squealed as she tried to get away. "Stop! Stop!" she yelled as she giggled and laughed. "Paaappaaaa!"

"Don't worry Riley, I got you!" Doc said with a grin as she grabbed the girl's arms and started a tugowar with Johnny.

"No… she's mine! You can't have her!"

The game lasted all of two minutes before Alexei decided he wanted in too. With a laughing yell he tackled his papa's legs then reached up and grabbed the waist of the leather chaps his papa was wearing and started bouncing up and down. "Papa! Papa! Paapaa! Up up up! Papa!" he shrieked as he was caught and flipped so he was hanging upside down.

"You sure you don't want me to leave one of the dogs?" Johnny asked as he glanced at Doc.

"Naa, I'll be fine Mr. J," Doc replied as she gathered up Riley and everything she needed for school. "I'll be sure to add a change of clothes for her when I pick her up. I'll text you when we're on our way."

"Alright," Johnny said as he set Alexei down and gave Riley a quick hug. "Be good for papa," he added.

"I will!"

Half an hour later, everyone's bags were loaded into the SUVs. Steve, Bucky and Natasha had claimed the bikes while everyone else was piled into the SUVs for the trip over to SI Headquarters. Johnny had Alexei strapped into the sidecar, a show playing on the built in screen and both dogs in the sidecar with his son. On the trip, any time they'd stop at a light, Alexei would turn to the vehicle next to them, grin and, if it was a woman driving, he'd throw a kiss. When Bucky asked who taught Alexei that, Johnny just shrugged and laughed saying he came by his flirtatious personality naturally. Both men missed the look Natasha and Steve exchanged.

Both Pepper and Tony meet everyone in the lobby of the building when they arrived. Pepper of course took Fury and Hill along with Steve, T'Challa and Vision up to the conference room Tony had had set up. Tony rode with Johnny and the rest to the floor Johnny worked on. As soon as the group got off on Johnny's floor, they were spotted by a couple of the office workers. A moment later the call of 'Munchkin on the floor!' was taken up and repeated as he walked to a set of colorful lockers set off to one side.

"Welcome to the only office floor you will ever likely to see, that has baby-gated cubicles and safety gates blocking off stairwell doors, the elevator landing areas, and any other place a child or pet should not be," Johnny said with a laugh as he set Alexei down so he could open a locker. Out of it, he pulled a set of wide, silver and blue bracelets and a pair of tags. Crouching down, he fastened one around Alexei's wrist, making sure it wouldn't come off, then fastened his own around wrist. The third he tucked away in a pocket, before he fastened the tags to both Shep and Mr. Snuffaluffagus's collars. Walking over to a scanner placed high enough only an adult could access it, he took the wand and ran it over both bracelets and the tags to log them in. "Alright, we're logged into the floor."

"How do you know someone can't just take a child and leave?" Wanda asked in curiosity.

Tony smirked. "Any floor above second is inaccessible to the public. Second… well… just give it a try," he said with a gesture before motioning everyone else away from the elevators. "FRIDAY, log this as a test of the security protocols."

"Yes Boss," the AI replied. "Child Protocol drill is now logged with security."

Wanda glanced at the others then shrugged and walked over to Alexei and crouched down so she was eye level with him. "May I pick you up little one?" she asked. When Alexei nodded and held out his arms, she picked him up and settled him on her hip.

"Walk down that direction a little before coming back," Tony instructed.

Johnny motioned for Alexei to cover his ears, then grinned.

Wanda did as instructed. When she turned back around to return to the elevators. As soon as she passed the 1st cubicle, amber lights dropped out of the ceiling and started flashing as an alarm sounded. She didn't make it to the second cubicle before over a dozen people were standing up, looking around and started to exit their work spaces. Floor to ceiling force fields activated, blocking off all access to the elevators, stairwells and windows. And on top of all that, both dogs went on immediate alert.

"Color me impressed," Wanda said before giving Alexei a peck on the temple and setting him down.

The next half hour was spent standing around discussing various ways of attempting to take a child off the floor without getting caught. Finally a call from Pepper asking Tony what the holdup was, had everyone on the move again.

"I'll catch you during lunch hour," Johnny said before turning and walking after the child, who was hi-fiving everyone he passed.

Everyone who worked under Johnny in his special financial group, loved it. Pets, as long as they were well behaved and had their tags, were allowed. If someone was a parent but couldn't get a sitter for their under school aged child, the child could be brought with them. People were encouraged to personalize (within reason of course) their cubicles. Since the building was a non-smoking environment, alternatives such as patches, gums or even quit smoking plans were offered and encouraged as well. Lunches were a mandatory 1 hour, and depending on how long of a day was put in, an additional 30 minute meal break was added, in addition to the normal four 15 minute breaks. Business casual was the dress code with Friday's being an optional casual (jeans) day. There were also a lot of different stress relief methods offered for the times when people just got overloaded. All in all, it was just another bit of proof that Stark Industries was one of the best companies to work for.

Lunch rolled around quicker than expected due to some of the work Johnny and his group were in the middle of. He didn't exactly want to leave, but they assured him they could handle it and if anything changed, he'd be informed. When he and Alexei arrived, Johnny saw the property that Tony had decided to offer as a way to sweeten the deal he was brokering with Fury. He took a look at it, tilted his head sideways and smirked. "Hey Tony, toss that image here a moment would you?" he asked, holding up his own tablet after he set Alexei down at the meeting table.

With a grab and toss motion, Tony sent the image to Johnny. He watched as the younger man pulled out a stylus and started sketching then writing. A few minutes later, the image was re-passed back to him. When he opened it, he blinked then started laughing.

"Care to let us in on the joke?" Fury asked, eyeing the former Avenger from across the conference room table.

Still chuckling to himself, Tony sent the image to the large display screen on the wall. "I guess that means it was meant to be the location of a New Avenger's Facility."

The satellite map of the location had been flipped so north was now at the bottom. In 'Avenger Blue' the property had been outlined, creating the slanted A that was associated with the team. The buildings were numbered with a legend written to the side. What the buildings were seemed to have been logically assigned. To the west was a second property, this one outlined in yellow-gold with a sloppily sketched SHIELD symbol on it.

"Imagine that," Fury commented as he sat back to study the image.

Down the table further, Johnny frowned as he sat up straighter, his lunch forgotten in favor of the info he was receiving. He spent the next few minutes in rapid fire communications with his group before he sat back and tapped his bottom lip in thought. Getting up he walked around the table until he was next to Tony, where he leaned back against the table, his back to everyone, and placed the tablet in front of his boss. He crossed his arms and waited.

Tony glanced at the tablet, then Johnny, and back to the device. Picking it up, he scrolled through the information. Once he was done, he leaned back in his chair, staring at Johnny for several moments. He then passed the tablet to Pepper.

After reading it over, Pepper nodded and passed it back to Johnny. "I'll take care of it this afternoon," she commented. "I'll bring Alexei back down to your floor when he's done eating."

Johnny took the tablet with a nod. "Thanks," was all he said before he moved around to Alexei. "Be good for Aunt Pepper, ok? I'll see you when you come back down." He gave the boy a quick kiss on the forehead then headed for the door without another word.

* * *

Later that evening, the last of Johnny's people were logging out for the night. His floor was dark with only the few widely spaced lights. Even the cleaning crew had finished and moved on. All the information had been uploaded to Tony's private servers, the plans had been made and authorized. Pepper had both of the kids and the dogs for the evening and would be keeping them overnight. Doc had been informed so as to not worry. Now all he needed to do was go home, finalize a few things then gather his gear and prepare to leave. A knock on his door had him looking up to find both Natasha and Bucky standing there. "Hi," he said as he finished closing down his computer.

"Hey stranger," Natasha replied. "Mind if we come in?"

"No, not at all," Johnny returned. "Sorry I wasn't around more, but something came up."

Bucky moved around the office, looking at everything before he finally stopped next to Johnny's chair and leaned casually against his desk. "We've made our decision," he said, waiting for Natasha to settle.

"And?"

Natasha looked at Bucky then to Johnny. "We'd like to stay and take you up on your offer," she said.

"We can't promise it will be perfect. We can't even promise it will be forever, but we can promise to try. To stay as long as possible and to make it work," Bucky added.

Johnny stood up slowly, looking between the two for several minutes before he smiled. "I can work with that," he said as he wrapped his arms about both. "I can definitely work with that."

"Speaking of 'work'," Natasha spoke up. "Need a hand with the job you're planning?" she asked.

"Need? No," Johnny shook his head. "But I would enjoy having someone to keep me company. Think either of you might know someone?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh, I think we can find someone," Bucky replied as he wrapped his arms about Johnny's waist and leaned in for a kiss. "Don't you?" he asked Natasha.

The redhead smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I think we can," she agreed as she claimed Johnny's mouth in a kiss of her own. "Now let's blow this popsicle stand and get the job done so we can go home and 'negotiate' some more."


	7. Chapter 7

Foxx Hunting

by Phantomchajo

((A/N: No, I haven't forgotten about my other stories. Just waiting on one muse to step back and let others have some time.

A wonderful thanks to my friend Lady Moonhawke, who is also my co-writer, co-conspirator, Idea tester, plot hole finder, monkey wrench thrower, and ghost editor.

Italics usually means another language that I'm too lazy to have translated into that language. Hope everyone had a good Christmas and/or Holidays - whatever tradition you follow!))

Chap 7

Epilogue

It had come to the point where the Avengers had to split up. There were just too many in one location for their enemies not to be tempted anymore. Several of the Avengers had also voiced their desire to relocate. So after much debate, the UN had finally given their approval to split the Avengers into two groups.

The East Coast Avengers would consist of Captain America as leader, with Agent 13, Black Panther, Falcon, and Vision on the team. Several other candidates were considered as well, including Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man. They would be located in upstate New York still at the New Avengers Facility. Steve had an apartment in Brooklyn for when he was off duty. Sharon had one in Manhattan. Having officially started dating, they often spent time at each other's place. T'Challa stayed most of the time at the Wakandan Embassy when he wasn't taking care of his duties back home. Sam still returned to the DC area where he still volunteered to help Veterans. Vision was the only member not to have a personal abode to call home when he was off duty.

The West Coast Avengers would have Iron Man in the position of leader/advisor, the Black Widow, Winter Soldier, War Machine, the Scarlet Witch, and Ant-Man. Their primary candidate was a young woman named Katie Bishop, who rivaled Clint Barton in skill with the bow. Johnny was also a candidate but let it be known he would only be a reservist and deployed when there was no one else that could be called upon. Tony could operate out of any of his labs, but prefered to personally oversee the construction on the new west coast facility. Once it was completed, he returned to the San Francisco area and managed out of his labs. Natasha and Bucky moved in with Johnny and his family. Rhodes was transferred to the LA AFB and being both a bachelor and military didn't have to worry about housing. It was taken care of for him. Scott kept close to his daughter, though he did upgrade his living arrangements when his status as 'Avenger' became official. Wanda found a small community of displaced Sakovian refugees where she was welcomed with open arms and open hearts.

When it came to the division of assignments, the ECA took on the assignments that needed a larger team while the WCA took on the assignments that required fewer members, usually solo or pairs. Another difference between the two teams was that the WCA tended to be less serious all the time, more fun-loving and relaxed. Not to say the ECA were a bunch of stiffs, but they did tend to be the more serious of the two groups. So when a prank war between the two groups occurred, it was hard to believe it was Steve and company were the ones to start it.

Like with everything, the old must give way for the new. Old heroes retired or died while new ones took their place.

Eventually Steve had finally started showing signs of aging and decided that it was time. He retired from the role of Captain America and passed the title and shield to Bucky. He took the suggestion offered him once, and invested in furthering his education to become an American History teacher who specialized on the times between 1918 and 1944. He still sketched and painted on the side. His relationship with Sharon ended mutually when their career paths started going in different directions.

For a while Bucky held the title and shield then decided to pass it on as well. When he took a leave of absence from the Avengers, he found himself at loose ends. With encouragement from Steve, as well as Johnny and Natasha, both of whom he was still living with, he started searching and researching for any living relatives he might have had. After reconnecting with his past, he found himself itching to get back in the field. It didn't take long for him to be welcomed back to the team.

When Natasha had retired, she became a private instructor in the art of ballet, gymnastics and self-defense for young girls. On the side, she would take special assignments for SHIELD to keep in practice. She would join Johnny when he had jobs to do as well. The rest of the time, she enjoyed the position of 'Mom' she had acquired when she became part of Riley and Alexei's life.

And life continued on.

* * *

((A/N: There are possibilities of one-shots within this story's universe. All dependent upon the muses of course))


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